Rating: 
Summary: The Face Of My ....Past
Review: I am a Black female. This book was given to me by a good friend who happens to be white. I can look at many of the pictures and see my childhood. I can see many aspect of the lives of my parents. My father is from Mississippi, where there are places that still look like pictures in this book. My mother was born and reared in Michigan. I can see the things that they both talked about in their lives thru this book. I feel that all black children need to see what rich and diverse lives we have. All others should read and see that blacks in America had similar lives we just came by a different route.
Rating:
Summary: The Face Of My ....Past
Review: I am a Black female. This book was given to me by a good friend who happens to be white. I can look at many of the pictures and see my childhood. I can see many aspect of the lives of my parents. My father is from Mississippi, where there are places that still look like pictures in this book. My mother was born and reared in Michigan. I can see the things that they both talked about in their lives thru this book. I feel that all black children need to see what rich and diverse lives we have. All others should read and see that blacks in America had similar lives we just came by a different route.
Rating:
Summary: An astonishing work
Review: Painstakingly and obviously LOVINGLY researched, this book is a compendium of magnificent archival photographs and editorial commentary. Despite the fact that this is a non-fiction piece and a seemingly narrow area of focus, this book will appeal to every reader regardless of race or sex. The Face of Our Past reads like a juicy collection of information and glimpses into the life of someone famous, which makes the humanity and "ordinary-ness" of these women really stand out. I couldn't get enough! I'm also ordering the first book Ms. Thompson wrote called "A Shining Thread of Hope". I glanced at it recently in a local bookstore and (even though it's a non-fiction history piece) it reads like a NOVEL! I can't wait to see how the story is woven! Wow what a pair of books!
Rating:
Summary: A Magnificent Contribution
Review: THE FACE OF OUR PAST is a magnificent contribution to the history of black women in America. The photographic images go back three hundred years, across a vast spectrum of life experience, to create a rich and vivid tapestry. Thank you, Kathleen Thompson, Hilary Mac Austin, and Darlene Clark Hine for this beautiful book!
Rating: 
Summary: Good intentions, amazing illustrations, poor captions.
Review: The visual imagery in this collection is terrific, enabling readers' memory, longing, wisdom, regret, sorrow, enormous admiration (of the subjects and all that they represent)- and wonderment. The people and the settings resonate. These are important images. You might well be moved to tears. There is no shortage of emotional appeal to the viewer. One cannot be unaffected by this collection, and all that it represents. In addition, historically important works of art (engravings and paintings) are reproduced - although unfortunately none in color. The captioning is - for a work of this scope and size, and for illustrations of such power - inconsistent and therefore disappointing, though. Because it's published by an academic press, I expected a more careful and rigorous treatment. Books of this scope and ambition are few and far between, and one treasures the illustrations - the historic visual record - in and of itself. It's dicey to criticize a collection that has as its focus such a compelling (and neglected) subject: the history of African American women. The subject matter is terrific - but the book is less so. One wishes that the editors had had an editor. (Why, for example, is the "b" of "black" capitalized? To my knowledge this is not conventional usage, and it detracts.) So what happened? At times the work seems rushed. For example, three people are photographed, two are identified by name, the third called "unknown." In fact, the writer means "unidentified." Accompanying a photo of a shoeless farm worker is the caption telling one, redundantly, that she is barefoot. A number of captions identify the subject as "Unidentified woman, [location, date.]" That seems lifted directly from states' historical societies' archives. One expects more - or less - but not words that merely interfere with one's experience. One does not need to be told that a photograph is a "photograph." Occasionally, the editors engage in assumptions regarding the illustrations that, in my view, interfere with the power of the imagery, and reduce the value of this compilation. Guessing as to the subjects' activities in a photograph by Jack Delano, they write that a woman and several children are "possibly waiting for the husband and father to get his hair cut." In fact, one cannot know, and do not need to know, what the people were doing that day. The photo is about much more than that. Another incredible photo of a woman and a girl is accompanied by more guesswork as to the relationship of the subjects (mother and daughter?). There is wordiness to many of the captions. Worst case, there is sometimes unintentional patronization: subjects are identified as "lovely young women," (p. 81) or "fashionable," "attractive" (p.4). The end result is a sense that this book was rushed, and that - despite the impressive pool of archival material from which it was assembled - some corners were cut. The editors use interesting and illuminating quotations in places - but meagerly. There is brief index of names of subjects, and names of quoted women, omitting place names and more. I wish that the authors of this work either done more, or less. Mostly, I wish that they had more convincingly respected the ability of these powerful and important illustrations to speak clearly to the reader, and had also trusted readers to make the connections between text and visual imagery that is so satisfying and essential to the meaningful experience of organized archival material.
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary book to be appreciated again and again.
Review: These pictures of black women in America will touch you in many ways, and in some cases will rip your heart out. Each photograph has a story on the surface and another deep inside it, and some force you to think about them for a long time. Every person who's opened my copy of the book has looked at a few pictures and then gone "Omigod" when the right one hits home -- and it's always a different picture. The accompanying text is also thought-provoking -- quotes from women in historic and ground-breaking situations, women who have earned positions of authority, authors, and poets. Open any page and you're right back there -- with photographs of women living in slavery, with women fighting during the struggle for civil rights, with women trying to make the best of life, with women just trying to survive, with women finding joy in the midst of everything. It amazes and delights me that these two white women decided to put together such a remarkable chronicle about black women, recognizing that the history of the black woman in America is every American's history.
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary book to be appreciated again and again.
Review: These pictures of black women in America will touch you in many ways, and in some cases will rip your heart out. Each photograph has a story on the surface and another deep inside it, and some force you to think about them for a long time. Every person who's opened my copy of the book has looked at a few pictures and then gone "Omigod" when the right one hits home -- and it's always a different picture. The accompanying text is also thought-provoking -- quotes from women in historic and ground-breaking situations, women who have earned positions of authority, authors, and poets. Open any page and you're right back there -- with photographs of women living in slavery, with women fighting during the struggle for civil rights, with women trying to make the best of life, with women just trying to survive, with women finding joy in the midst of everything. It amazes and delights me that these two white women decided to put together such a remarkable chronicle about black women, recognizing that the history of the black woman in America is every American's history.
Rating:
Summary: A pictorial source of determination for every woman
Review: This book belongs in the library of every woman who desires to make an everlasting positive impact in her life, the lives of her family and community . The photos and stories captivated my friends and I, and empowered us with the knowledge that others had already travelled down roads of, similiar and worst, challenges and had come up with surprising strength, individuality and success. Thompson and Mac Austin in this book have given vast recognition to the lives of african-descended females.Their's are stories of mere strangers who existed decades upon decades ago and who are now encouraging on a new generation of 21st century women, a callaloo(mixture) of women from every branch of ethniticity , social-structure and religion. There are so many magnificent photos in this book that every reader can identify herself as at least one of these women.Their eyes and smiles, their clothing and expressions all tell a single story of a determination to create and enjoy a better life, whether on an individual or bigger scale. The spirit of this book motives us in the power that we can persevere and succeed because we are ancestorally, protector, provider, sustainer woman.I am an editor and wife and found this book a true asset in my personal and professional life. You are welcome to email me for a free copy of my minizine. I would also recommend books by Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Iyana Vanzant if you are looking to enrich your life's journey.These writers are not as "photogenic" as THE FACE OF OUR PAST.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Purchase
Review: This book covers generations of history. The pictures are
breath-taking....it gives you a sincere sense of purpose.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Purchase
Review: This book covers generations of history. The pictures are
breath-taking....it gives you a sincere sense of purpose.
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